Glove producing apparatus

ABSTRACT

Glove producing apparatus comprising at least one hand-shaped former movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; control means operative to locate the former in upright position with the fingers of the former disposed upwardly at the first station and in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly at the second and third stations; means at the first station operative to apply concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to apply dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to apply latex to the entire glove forming portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the third station.

United States Patent Sidley 1 Oct. 22, 1974 l l GLOVE PRODUCING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Henry Sidley, Johannesburg, South Africa [73] Assignee: Vulco-Sidley Machine Company (Proprietary) Limited, Transvaal. South Africa 221 Filed: Mar. 13, 1974 211 Appl. No; 450,845

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 887,225, Dec, 22. 1969.

[52] US. Cl 425/270, 264/303, 264/309, 264/306 [51] Int. Cl. B29c 13/00, B29h 3/042 [58] Field of Search 425/90, 93, 270', 264/303, 264/306, 307, 309

m m-m 3,487,146 12/1969 Tillotson 264/303 Primary Examiner-Robert L. Spicer, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen 1571 ABSTRACT Glove producing apparatus comprising at least one hand-shaped former movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; control means operative to locate the former in upright position with the fingers of the former disposed upwardly at the first station and in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly at the second and third stations; means at the first station operative to apply concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to apply dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to apply latex to the entire glove forming portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the third station.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEUBEI 22 I974 3343296 sum 1% 2 f mlmIm-m-mm an em 8' GLOVE PRODUCING APPARATUS RELATED U.S. APPLICATION This application is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 887,225, filed Dec. 22, 1969.

This invention relates to the manufacture of gloves, particularly surgical gloves, from latex. For the purposes of this specification, the term latex" is used to signify natural rubber latex or an aqueous dispersion of a synthetic rubber or rubberlike material, such as Neoprene latex.

For the preservation of sensitivity for the wearer, the walls of the fingers and palm portions of a surgical glove should be as thin as possible consistent with adequate strength. Furthermore, the wall of the cuff portion should be relatively thick for strength in putting on and for gripping the wearers gown. Preferably, the wall of the palm portion of the glove should be thinner than that of the finger portions in order to minimise hand fatigue.

It is known to make a surgical glove by dipping a hand-shaped former coated with coagulant into a bath of liquid latex with the fingers disposed downwardly. This method suffers from the disadvantage that since the fingers enter the latex first and are removed last, the fingers of the resultant glove are thicker than the cuff to give an inversion of the required characteristics.

Becuase of the thin cuff produced by the above method, it is common practice to provide the cuff with a beaded edge formed by rolling the rubber upon itself at a suitable stage of manufacture. The formation of the bead suffers from the disadvantage that an additional manufacturing operation is required. Furthermore, the bead has a tendency to roll downwards during use.

In an effort to overcome the above disadvantages, it has been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,302 to dip a former with the fingers disposed downwardly in a coagulant bath, inverting the former and dipping the coagulant coated former into the latex with the fingers disposed upwardly. This method produces a glove with relatively thin fingers and a relatively thick cuff, but suffers from the disadvantages that:

a. The carrier means for the former is connected to the cuff portion of the former and enters the latex bath. Apart of the carrier means is coated with coagulant and picks up latex when it enters the bath. Furthermore, the carrier part to which the cuff end of the former is attached is not coated with coagulant but nevertheless picks up a considerable quantity of uncoagulated latex due to its relatively large area. This is messy and results in a considerable wastage of relatively expensive latex.

b. It has been found that as the upwardly facing tips of the fingers of the former are submerged in the latex bath, there is a tendency for an air bubble to be trapped at each finger tip and to become embedded in the resulting glove. Such trapped bubbles not only impair the strength of the glove at the finger tips, but also increase inspection costs.

It has also been suggested in British Patent specification No. 1,021,137 to immerse a hand-shaped former with the fingers downwards in a bath of concentrated coagulant up to the required length of the glove. After removal from the concentrated coagulant, the former is immersed fingers downwards into a bath of water or other coagulant solvent up to the region of the junction between the cuff and hand portions of the former, thereby to remove the concentrated coagulant from the hand portion. Thereafter, the former is immersed fingers downwards in a bath of dilute coagulant up to the junction between the cuff and hand. portions of the for mer. After removal from the dilute coagulant the former is immersed fingers downwards into a bath of latex up to the required length of the glove.

As an alternative to the removal of concentrated coagulant from the hand portion of the former by immersion in a solvent, it has been suggested to dilute the concentrated coagulant on the hand portion by immersing the former fingers downwards into a bath of suitably dilute coagulant up to the region of the junction between the cuff and hand portions of the former.

These methods avoid or minmise at least certain of the above disadvantages and produce a glove in which the fingers and palm have a thinner wall thickness than the cuff. However, these methods suffer from the following disadvantages:

a. It involves a considerable number of separate dipping stages which not only increase production costs, but also increases the chances of the end product being marred or damaged.

b. The removal with a solvent of concentrated coagulant from the major portion of the former is wasteful.

c. Dilution of concentrated coagulant on the hand portion of the former by immersion into a bath of dilute coagulant, has been found to produce an uneven coating of dilute coagulant, thereby producing a glove with a hand portion of uneven thickness. It also results in an increase in the concentration of the dilute coagulant and control of the concentration of the dilute coagulant bath is, there fore, required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of producing gloves, especially surgical gloves, from latex with which the above disadvantages are avoided or at least minimised.

Co-pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 887,225 discloses a method of producing a glove having a cuff portion of greater thickness than the remaining portion of the glove, said method comprising:

a. locating a hand-shaped former with the fingers disposed upwardly,

b. applying concentrated liquid latex coagulant only to the cuff portion of the former with the former so disposed;

c. allowing the concentrated liquid coagulant applied to the cuff portion to dry to a point at which it does not run;

a. inverting the former to finger tips-down position;

e. applying dilute liquid latex coagulant to the hand portion of the former at least up to the edge of the dried coagulant on the cuff portion;

f. applying liquid latex on the former up to the required length of the glove including the cuff portion so as to form a thicker layer of latex on the cuff portion as compared to the remainder of the glove;

g. curing the latex; and h. removing the resulting glove from the former.

With the method of the invention, a thicker layer of latex coagulates on the cuff portion of the former which is coated with the concentrated coagulant than on the hand portion which is coated with the dilute coagulant.

It will be appreciated that the terms concentrated coagulant and dilute coagulant are used in a relative sense in this specification to indicate that the one coagulant is more concentrated than the other. The ab solute concentrations of the coagulant may be selected to suit particular circumstances, as will be clear to a man skilled in the art. Any suitable coagulant may be used.

For the application of the concentrated coagulant, the former may be disposed substantially vertically or at a suitable angle to the vertical, provided the fingers are disposed upwardly relative to the cuff portion to avoid running down of concentrated coagulant onto the hand portion of the former.

The concentrated coagulant may be applied by di recting at least one stream of concentrated coagulant against the cuff portion of the former. Preferably, streams of concentrated coagulant are directed against opposite sides of the cuff portion.

The former may be rotated while the concentrated coagulant is being applied to it.

It has been found that where the concentrated coagulant is applied by suitably directing one or more streams of concentrated coagulant against the cuff portion of the former, a concentrated coagulant coating with a relatively straight edge can be obtained, even if the former is held stationary during the application of the coagulant, particularly if the cuff portion is circular in cross-section. A straighter edge can be obtained by rotating the former during coagulant application.

In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of formers are located in a row with their fingers disposed upwardly in a position between and adjacent the ends of a pair of laterally spaced coagulant conduits; the row of formers and the conduits are moved relatively in a longitudinal direction with respect to the row of formers; and streams of concentrated coagulant are discharged through outlet nozzles in the conduits from opposite sides onto the cuff portions of successive formers from one end of the row to the other.

Preferably, the pair of coagulant conduits are moved along the row of formers from one end of the row to the other and back again; and the streams of concentrated coagulant are discharged from the outletnozzles in the conduits onto the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the outlet nozzles past the formers.

The concentrated coagulant may be allowed to dry partially or completely before the former is inverted, so that running down of concentrated coagulant onto the hand portion may be avoided or at least minimised.

The dilute coagulant may be applied to the hand portion of the or each former by immersing the former fingers downwards in a bath of dilute coagulant up to or just beyond the edge of the concentrated coagulant coating on the cuff portion.

The dilute coagulant may be allowed to dry partially or completely before the latex is applied.

Latex may be applied by immersing the or each former fingers downwards in a bath of latex up to the required length of the glove.

The latex coating may be subjected to any required after treatment, such as leaching, drying, vulcanising and stripping from the former, as will be clear to a man skilled in the art.

According to the invention glove producing apparatus suitable for carrying out the above method comprises at least one hand-shaped former movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; control means operative to locate the former in upright position with the fingers of the former disposed upwardly at the first station and in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly at the second and third stations; means at the first station operative to apply concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to apply dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to apply latex to the entire glove forming portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the third station.

More particularly, glove producing apparatus comprises at least one hand-shaped former movable from a first station through a second station to a third station and rotatable between an upright position in which the fingers of the former are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers are disposed downwardly; control means operative to locate the former in upright position at the first station and in inverted position at the second and third stations; applicator means at the first station operative to direct at least one stream of concentrated coagulant against the cuff portion only of the former when the latter is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to immerse the hand portion of the former at least up to the edge of a concentrated coagulant coating applied to the cuff portion at the first station, in a bath of dilute coagulant when the former is in inverted position; and means at the third station operative to immerse the former up to the required length of a glove including the cuff portion, in a bath of latex when the former is in inverted position at the third station.

A plurality of formers may be mounted in a row on a carrier with their cuff portions secured to the carrier, the applicator means at the first station comprising a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits which are movable to and fro along the row of formers on opposite sides thereof when the formers are in upright position at the first station, and outlet nozzles in the conduits which face and move past the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the conduits.

For a clear understanding of the invention a preferred embodiment will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation with parts omitted for the sake of clarity, of apparatus suitable for carrying out the method according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view to an enlarged scale, of a glove former carrier unit of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a glove former in upright position with the fingers disposed upwardly for the application of concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion of the former.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the glove former of FIG. 3 in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly and immersed in a bath of dilute coagulant for the application of dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the glove former of FIGS. 3 and 4 in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly and immersed in a bath of latex for the application of latex to the entire gloveforming portion of the former.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a glove produced in accordance with the invention, on its former.

' Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus includes a conveyor system comprising a pair of parallel, continuous roller conveyor chains 1, each of which runs around a pair of spaced apart chain sprockets (not shown) and is supported between the sprockets by a rail 2. At one end of the path of travel of conveyor chains 1, the corresponding sprockets are mounted on a common shaft which is adapted to be rotatably driven to drive the conveyor chains 1. Conveyor chains 1 carry between them a plurality of longitudinally spaced glove former carrier units 3.

Each carrier unit 3 comprises a pair of aluminium bearers 4 on each of which a plurality of hand-shaped glove formers 5 are mounted in a row with the cuff portions of the formers secured to the bearer 4. Each pair of bearers 4 are secured at opposite ends to a pair of spaced brackets 6 which are fast with a tubular crossmember 7 rotatably embracing a shaft 8 of circular cross-sectional configuration which is rigidly attached at opposite ends to the lower ends of brackets 9, which in turn, are bolted at their upper ends to conveyor chains 1. It will be appreciated that each shaft 8 is located transversely between chains 1 and are carried forward by chains 1 during longitudinal movement thereof. As shaft 8 moves forward, it carries the crossmember 7, bearers 4 and formers 5 of its carrier unit 3 with it. Brackets 9 are located in close proximity to the inner edges of support rails 2 and locate roller chains 1 on rails 2.

Each carrier unit 3 is movable with conveyor chains 1 from a first main station A through second main station B to a third main station C. Each carrier unit 3 is further rotatable about its shaft 8 between an upright position in which the fingers of formers 5 are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers of formers 5 are disposed downwardly.

Control means which will be described in greater detail below, is provided to locate each carrier unit 3 in upright position at first station A and in inverted position at each of the second and third stations B,C as shown in FIG. 1.

The control means includes a pair of guide rollers 10 on the tubular cross-member 7 of each carrier unit 3. As can be seen from FIG. 2, a support member 11 is fast with one end of tubular cross-member 7 and rotatably mounts guide rollers 10 in spaced relationship longitudinally along conveyor chains 1. The axes of rotation of guide rollers 10 lie in the same horizontal plane containing the axis of rotation of cross-member 7. Guide rollers 10 engage guide rail 12 and prevent rota tion of carrier unit 3 about its shaft 8, thereby to hold the formers in upright position at station A and during travel for a predetermined distance from station A towards station B.

The control means further includes a gear sprocket 13 fast with the tubular cross-member 7 of each carrier unit 3 on the end opposite to guide rollers 10. During forward movement of carrier units 3 with chain conveyors 1, the sprockets 13 on the tubular crossmembers 7 of the various carrier units 3 engage suitably located stationary racks 14 along the path of travel of the sprockets 13. The racks 14 are of a length just sufiicient to rotate the carrier units through Guide rail 12 is cut away in suitably located zones 15 along its length so that as the sprocket 13 of a carrier unit 3 engages a rack 14, the leading guide roller 10 moves downwardly through the cut-away zone 15 to allow rotation of the carrier unit 3 about its shaft 8 due to the engagement between sprocket 13 and the rack 14. Each cutaway zone 15 in guide rail 12 is of such a length that the guide roller 10 which is in leading position at that stage engages the upper surface of guide rail 12 on the far side of the cut-away zone 15, just as the sprocket 13 moves clear of the rack 14. The trailing guide roller 10, then runs onto the upper surface of guide rail 12 as conveyor chains 1 continue their for ward movement. It will be appreciated that when both guide rollers 10 engage guide rail 12 again, they retain the carrier unit 3 against rotation about shaft 8 until the next rack 14 and cut-away zone 15 in guide rail 12 are reached. By suitably locating a plurality of racks l4 and cut-away zones 15 along conveyor chains 1, each carrier unit 3 can be located in upright or inverted position as required at various positions along the path of conveyor chains 1.

At station A, a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits 16 are provided for each row of formers 5. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the two pairs of coagulant supply conduits are mounted on a carriage 17 which is adapted to be actuated pneumatically for reciprocating movement tranversely to conveyor chains 1 so that each pair of supply conduits 16 are movable to and fro along its row of formers 5 on opposite sides thereof from one end of the row to the other and back again, when the formers are in upright position at station A. Conduits 16 have outlet nozzles 16a at their ends which face and move past the cuff portions 5a of successive formers 5 during to and fro movement of the conduits 16, thereby to direct streams of concentrated coagulant against the cuff portions 5a of the formers 5 from opposite sides thereof, thus ensuring that the cuff portion 5a of each former is adequately coated with concentrated coagulant.

A stationary tank 18 for concentrated coagulant is suitably located at station A in a position underneath formers 5 to which concentrated coagulant is being applied, to catch concentrated coagulant dropping down from formers 5. Concentrated coagulant may be circulated from tank 18 to supply conduits 16.

At station B, a tank 19 containing a bath of dilute coagulant is suitably located and is mounted on hydraulic lifting device 20 which is arranged to raise the tank to a suitable height for a suitable period of time to immerse the hand portions 512 of the formers 5 of a carrier unit 3 at station B in dilute coagulant.

At station C, a tank 21 containing a bath of latex is suitably located and is mounted on a hydraulic lifting device 22 which is arranged to raise the tank to a suitable height for a suitable period of time to immerse the entire glove forming portions of the formers 5 of a carrier unit 3 at station C in latex.

Additional stations, such as for drying, leaching, and other operations, may be provided in suitable positions relative to stations A, B and C. For example, drying stations may be provided between stations A and B and between stations B and C, if required. Drying and leaching stations may be provided after station C. The conveyor system may pass through a drying and vulcanising tunnel (not shown) along its upper run.

The operation of the apparatus may be controlled in any suitable manner. Thus the apparatus may be arranged so that at the end of an operating cycle, completed and vulcanised gloves are stripped off the formers of a carrier unit located at a stripping station.

After stripping of the gloves, movement of the conveyor system is initiated by the operator. The conveyor system then stops automatically in successive positions so that the various carrier units along the conveyor chains 1 are suitably located relative to equipment at the various treatment stations, such as the concentrated coagulant supply conduits 16 at station A, the dilute coagulant tank 19 at station B and the latex tank 21 at station C. The carrier units are equally spaced along conveyor chains 1 and the various stations are spaced apart at distances which are equal to or multiples of the pitch between adjacent carrier units 3 so that the carrier units are accurately located for successive operations along the path of travel of conveyor chains 1.

Movable dipping tanks, such as dilute coagulant tank 19, at station B and latex tank 21 at station C, may be arranged to rise automatically by means of hydraulic lifting devices, such as 20 and 22, as soon as the conveyor system stops. The time of dwell of the dipping tanks at the top of their strokes, which is preferably variable so that the required dipping levels may be achieved, may be controlled by electrical timers. By suitable electrical and/or pneumatic interlocking, the conveyor system may be controlled so that it connot move forward until all the dipping tanks and other equipment are in their retracted, inoperative positions.

During operation of the apparatus, the formers 5 of each carrier unit 3, pass successively from station A through station B to station C. At station A, formers 5 are located in upright position with the fingers disposed upwardly and streams of concentrated coagulant are directed against the cuff portions 5a of each former 5 through the outlet nozzles 16 a of supply conduits 16. As shown in FIG. 3, a concentrated coagulant coating with a relatively straight edge 23 is obtained. The intensity of the streams of concentrated coagulant may be controlled by a valve in each conduit 16 in order to achieve as staight an edge 23 as possible.

Since the formers 5 are located with their fingers disposed upwardly, concentrated coagulant cannot run down on to the hand portion 512 of the formers during application of the concentrated coagulant.

A certain amount of concentrated coagulant does run down on to bearers 4, cross-member 7 and other associated parts and adhere thereto. This does not, however, present a problem since dried concentrated coagulant adhering to the carrier unit parts is dissolved and washed off by freshly applied concentrated coagulant each time a carrier unit 3 arrives at station A. Screens (not shown) may be provided to protect adjacent parts, such as sprockets 13 and guide roller 10. Concentrated coagulant which flows off the carrier unit 3 and/or is washed off the carrier unit 3, drops into tank 18 and is recovered. A minimum of wastage occurs.

At station B dilute coagulant is applied to the hand portion 5b of each former 5 of a carrier unit 3 by immersing each former finger downwards in a bath of di' lute coagulant 24 in tank 19 to a position just beyond the edge 23 of the concentrated coagulant coating on cuff portion 5a, as shown in FIG. 4.

At station C, latex is applied to the entire gloveforming portion of each former 5 of a carrier unit 3 by immersing each former fingers downwards in a bath of latex 25 in tank 22 up to the required length of a glove, as shown in FIG. 5.

With the method of the invention, a thicker layer of latex coagulates on the cuff portion 5a of each former 5 which is coated with concentrated coagulant, than on the hand portion 512 which is coated with dilute coagulant, as can be seen from FIG. 6.

It has been found that where concentrated and dilute coagulant and latex are applied in the manner described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 of the drawings, a satisfactory surgical glove can be obtained having relatively thin wall thickness in the fingers and palm portions and a relatively thick wall thickness in the cuff portion. It has been found that since the fingers enter the latex first and are removed last as will be apparent from FIG. 5, the fingers of the resultant glove are slightly thicker than the wall thickness of the palm portion. A surgical glove with a wall thickness of 0.0075 inches at the fingers 50, a slightly less wall thickness at the palm portion, and a wall thickness of 0.0125 inches at the open end of the cuff 5a, has been produced using a 43 percent calcium nitrate solution as the concentrated coagulant and an 8.6 percent calcium nitrate solution as the dilute coagulant for latex adjusted to 40 percent dry rubber content. Such a glove possesses all the required wall thickness characteristics for a surgical glove.

It will be clear from the previous paragraph that having regard to the high concentration of the concentrated coagulant, the suggestion of British Patent No. 1,021,137 referred to above, to remove concentrated coagulant from the major portion of a former is wasteful.

It will be appreciated that many variations in detail are possible without departing from the scope of the attached claims.

Although the invention is particularly applicable to the production of surgical gloves, it is by no means limited to such gloves, but may be used to produce any other type of glove or other thin-walled articles having wall sections of different thickness, from latex.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Glove producing apparatus comprising at least one hand-shaped former movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; control means operative to locate the former in upright position with the fingers of the former disposed upwardly at the first station and in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly at the second and third stations; means at the first station operative to apply concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to apply dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to apply latex to the entire glove forming portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the third station.

2. Glove producing apparatus comprising at least one hand-shaped former movable from a first station through a second station to a third station and rotatable between an upright position in which the fingers of the former are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers are disposed downwardly; control means operative to locate the former in upright position at the first station and in inverted position at the second and third stations; applicator means at the first station operative to direct at least one stream of con centrated coagulant against the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; and means at the second station operative to immerse the hand portion of the former at least up to the edge of a concentrated coagulant coating applied to the cuff portion at the first station, in a bath of dilute coagulant when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to immerse the former up to the required length of a glove including the cuff portion, in a bath of latex when the former is in inverted position at the third station,

3. Glove producing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein a plurality of formers are mounted in a row on a carrier with their cuff portions secured to the carrier; and the applicator means at the first station comprises a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits which are movable to and fro along the row of formers on opposite sides thereof when the formers are in upright position at the first station; and outlet nozzles in the conduits which face and move past the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the conduits.

4. Glove producing apparatus comprising a carrier movable along a path from a first station through a sec- 0nd station to a third station; a plurality of hand-shaped formers mounted in a row on the carrier with their cuffportions secured to the carrier, the carrier being rotatable between an upright position in which the fingers of the formers are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers of the formers are dis posed downwardly; control means operative to locate the carrier in upright position at the first station and an inverted position at each of the second and third stations; applicator means at the first station comprising a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits which are movable to and fro along the row of formers on opposite sides thereof when the formers are in upright position at the first station, the conduits having outlet nozzles which face and move past the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the conduits, means at the second station operative to immerse the hand portions of the formers in a bath of dilute coagulant at least up to the edge of a coating of concentrated coagulant applued by the applicator means at the first station; and means at the third station operative to immerse the formers up to the required length of gloves to be produced in a bath of latex when the formers are in inverted position at the third station. 4: 

1. Glove producing apparatus cOmprising at least one hand-shaped former movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; control means operative to locate the former in upright position with the fingers of the former disposed upwardly at the first station and in inverted position with the fingers disposed downwardly at the second and third stations; means at the first station operative to apply concentrated coagulant to the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; means at the second station operative to apply dilute coagulant to the hand portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to apply latex to the entire glove forming portion of the former when the former is in inverted position at the third station.
 2. Glove producing apparatus comprising at least one hand-shaped former movable from a first station through a second station to a third station and rotatable between an upright position in which the fingers of the former are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers are disposed downwardly; control means operative to locate the former in upright position at the first station and in inverted position at the second and third stations; applicator means at the first station operative to direct at least one stream of concentrated coagulant against the cuff portion only of the former when the former is in upright position at the first station; and means at the second station operative to immerse the hand portion of the former at least up to the edge of a concentrated coagulant coating applied to the cuff portion at the first station, in a bath of dilute coagulant when the former is in inverted position at the second station; and means at the third station operative to immerse the former up to the required length of a glove including the cuff portion, in a bath of latex when the former is in inverted position at the third station.
 3. Glove producing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein a plurality of formers are mounted in a row on a carrier with their cuff portions secured to the carrier; and the applicator means at the first station comprises a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits which are movable to and fro along the row of formers on opposite sides thereof when the formers are in upright position at the first station; and outlet nozzles in the conduits which face and move past the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the conduits.
 4. Glove producing apparatus comprising a carrier movable along a path from a first station through a second station to a third station; a plurality of hand-shaped formers mounted in a row on the carrier with their cuff-portions secured to the carrier, the carrier being rotatable between an upright position in which the fingers of the formers are disposed upwardly and an inverted position in which the fingers of the formers are disposed downwardly; control means operative to locate the carrier in upright position at the first station and an inverted position at each of the second and third stations; applicator means at the first station comprising a pair of laterally spaced coagulant supply conduits which are movable to and fro along the row of formers on opposite sides thereof when the formers are in upright position at the first station, the conduits having outlet nozzles which face and move past the cuff portions of successive formers during to and fro movement of the conduits, means at the second station operative to immerse the hand portions of the formers in a bath of dilute coagulant at least up to the edge of a coating of concentrated coagulant applued by the applicator means at the first station; and means at the third station operative to immerse the formers up to the required length of gloves to be produced in a bath of latex when the formers are in inverted position at the third station. 